Chinese gamers rejoice: China’s 15-year nationwide ban on video game consoles has been lifted, the country’s State Council announced Sunday, in a move that is seen by analysts as opening a highly lucrative market for industry giants Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.
In a statement, the State Council said that the reform experiences in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) will now be promoted nationwide, including the reversal of the ban on gaming consoles. Chinese authorities lifted the ban in the FTZ in the latter half of 2013, enabling joint ventures between foreign and local companies to manufacture and sell gaming consoles in the country.
China imposed a blanket restriction on the manufacture and sale of both consoles and games in 2000, with officials citing worries over violent content and potential moral decay as reason for the ban.
Foreign game console makers Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. are seen to benefit most from increased access to a $10-billion video game industry in the world's second largest economy, Bloomberg said in a report on Monday.
Microsoft has already started selling its Xbox One console in China in September the previous year, making it the first foreign vendor to enter the market, although government controls on content limited the devices to just 10 titles.
Sony indefinitely postponed its planned Jan. 11 launch of its PlayStation 4 console in China following requests from the Chinese government for adjustments.
The company's video game unit needs time to make the necessary changes, Kaede Bun, a spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., said earlier this month, without elaborating on the changes.
Chinese manufacturers have also entered the market with homegrown products. ZTE Corp., China's second largest maker of phone and network equipment, announced in March 2014 that it has partnered with online game developer The9 Ltd. to make a console called the "Fun Box." In April that same year, TCL Multimedia Holdings launched the Android-based T2 game console.